The present invention relates generally to electrical contacts and connectors and, more particularly, to electrical contacts and connectors designed for use in telephones for electrically coupling conductors to the transmitter contacts in a telephone handset.
The handset portion of a telephone is generally interconnected to the telephone base portion by a multi-conductor cord. The cord may be terminated by modular plug type connectors, one of which is inserted into a jack assembled in the transmitter end of the handset while the other plug type connector is inserted into a jack in the telephone base.
Two of the conductors associated with the connector receiving jack in the telephone handset are adapted to be coupled to repective contacts of the telephone transmitter. In this connection a so-called transmitter cup is received in one end of the handset. The transmitter cup generally includes a base wall from which an upstanding peripheral wall extends and a slotted wall which depends downwardly from the base wall which together with a pair of downwardly depending fingers forms means for mounting the jack to the underside of the transmitter cup. The transmitter rests on the upper edge of the peripheral wall of the cup and is fixed in position by an apertured cap threadedly fixed over the end of the handset. The transmitter is designed with an outer ring-shaped contact and an inner central contact, the transmitter contacts being adapted to be coupled to a respective pair of conductors associated with the modular plug-type connector receiving jack.
In order to couple the jack conductors to the transmitter contacts, it has been conventional to bore a pair of holes through the base wall of the transmitter cup through which respective conductive internally threaded bushings are passed. A pair of leaf spring contacts situated within the transmitter cup are affixed at one of their ends to the bushings by upsetting the end regions of the bushings which extend into the cup whereupon screws are threaded through the bushings from outside the cup. The jack conductors are electrically connected to the bushings by tightening the heads of the respective screws over spade contacts which terminate the conductors. The free ends of the leaf spring contacts are adapted to engage the inner and outer contacts of the transmitter to complete the connection.
It is apparent from the foregoing that the conventional construction and assembly of the contact structure associated with the transmitter cup in a telephone are relatively complicated and time consuming and, as such, relatively expensive.